clarias catfish

Question
I have a clarias catfish which I rescued a few months ago from a goldfish tank. He is 18 inches and lives on his own in a 48x24x18 tank. He had a red 'bruise' on his head when he arrived, recently though he has started scratching his head on gravel and now has a few 'bruises' on his head. I dont have a clue what is causing this. Water conditions are ph 6.4, nitrate 0, nitrite 0, temp is 75. Any advice you could give me would be very much appreciated.

Answer
Hi Mags;

The water chemistry looks good so I don't think there is anything wrong there. Do you ever see anything else on his head? Perhaps fish lice or anything? They are circular brownish-green flat parasites that suck their blood and leave reddish lesions. Here is a web page about it;

http://www.fishdoc.co.uk/disease/argulus.htm

Redness often indicates bacterial infection so if it isn't a parasite I would look into that instead. You might try treating with "Maracyn" or "Maracyn 2".

I hope he feels better soon......

At Your Service;
Chris Robbins